England Sevens continue to search for their first Cup victory of the season after losing out in the Plate semi-final in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
Despite a number of injuries to their contracted players, England had put themselves into the quarter-finals of the Cup on Sunday after two wins and a defeat the day previous.
Things started off well in the knock-out match against hosts South Africa with Alex Gray’s converted try giving them an early try.
But South Africa, who would eventually go onto to retain the title they won last year, turned the screw from then on and recorded a 31-7 victory to consign England to the Plate competition.
Simon Amor’s side were drawn to play Fiji, who themselves lost their own Cup quarter-final to Australia.
And despite taking the game to a physical Fiji side, England couldn’t make their possession count, going into the break 12-0 down before eventually going on to lose 31-0.
The result leaves the team sixth in the overall standings on 37 points, two places and nine points short of the minimum spot of fourth required to secure qualification for Rio 2016 come the end of the season.
England have been chosen as the home nations representative for both the male and female Olympic qualification.
Elsewhere in South Africa, Scotland also made the Plate semi-finals before losing out to the USA 26-19 while Wales saw their involvement ended at the Bowl semi-final stage with a 24-14 defeat to Canada.
© Sportsbeat 2014